Charging mechanism



My 23, 1933. E. A.v SMITH Er Al.

CHARGING MECHANI SM Filed March 24, 1932 Inventors Ernest A. Smth,

William H. Deerg, (fi/QJ Patented May 23, 1933 l UNITED: STATES PATENT omer.

ERNEST A. SMI'IVEVAND WILLIAM H. BEERY, OF SGHENEGTADY, YORK,'ASSIGrNQRSA Y TO GENERAL ELEUERIC COMPANY, A CORPORATION-0F NEW YORK mummia Mammals apn-@anca mee march a4, man. semi ne. enanos.

Our invention relates to charging mechanisms of the type employed for the introduction of charges oi work within material modifying apparatus such' as. furnaces and the like, and has for an object the provision of a simple and powerful drive for the raising and lowering of the charging fork..

Vhile it is not` limited thereto,V our invention is particularly applicable to furnaces of the automatic type wherein a charging fork is employed to introduce charges oi work into a heating chamber. n

In carrying out our invention in one form thereof, we provide a charging fork` supported in cantilever fashion by a plurality of levers pivotally connected to the fork and to the carriage with a driving gear mechanically connecting the levers to each otherV so that the fork may be raised and lowered while maintaining its work supporting sur- Jfaces horizontal.

For a more complete understanding of our invention, reference should now be had t0 the drawing in which Fig. 1 is. a sectional elevation of a charging mechanism embodying our invention as applied to a furnace; Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation similar to Fig. 1 but illustrating the manner in which a charge of work is introduced into the fur'- nace while Fig. 3 is a fractional end view showing the plurality of levers provided for the charging fork.

Referring to the drawing, we have .shown our invention in one form as applied to a chargingfork 10 arranged to transfer the charges of work 11 and 12 from a stationary rack 14 to a furnace 15. The charging fork 10 has a plurality of arms each of which is provided with a pair of downwardly extending projeetions20: and 21 by means of' which the fork 10 is supported from a carriage 222 A lever 24eis pivoted trom an I beam. 26; and there is provided a pivoted connection 2'7 between the downwardly extending proyection 20 andthe corresponding' ends of the lever 2,4. To the opposite end of' the lever there is integrally secured a quadrant oi a gear the teeth ot which: are arranged inmeshing relation with a driving gear 30., A second lever 32 is similarly provided with lever 32 about itspivotalv point or fulcrum a quadrant of a gear the teeth of whichaaro arranged in meshing relation with the drivmg gear 30. and this lever is pivoted at its other end to an I beam 33 supported on the carriage 22. A downwardly extending prolection 2,1 secured to the charging fork 10 is pivot-ally connectedto this lever at 34. A driving gear 30A is driven by a motor 36 by means of a driving chain 3.7,` a gear reduction box 38 and the gear 39,

I t will be observed that if the motor 36 is energized in a direction to rotate the driving gear 30 in a counter-clockwise direction, the lever 24 will be rotated about its pivotal point or tulcrum thereby producing a substantially vertical thrust on theV downwardly extending projection 20 At the same time, the rotation of the driving gear 30 in the counter-clockwise direction rotates the o n the I beam 33 so that'V a substantially vertical thrust is exerted on the downwardly extending projectionl 21. The result is the vertical raising of the charging fork 10". We have shown in Fig., 2 the positions of the respective parts when the; charging fork has been hoisted to its, uppermostl position.

In order to provide for lthe translational movement of the chargingfork 10,. the carriage 22 is provided with a rack gear 42 supported in meshing relation with a driving gear 43; The direction of rotation of the driving gear 43 is controlled by the energization of a drivingv motor 44V connected through a gear reduction mechanism 45 and the shaft, 46l to the driving gear 43.'.

'lt is to be understood that the charging fork I'Y maybe provided with any ydesired number of work supporting armsv dependingv upon the length of the charge to be supported., For example, in one installation where bars'of steel were twenty-five feet long, to be heat treated, sin work-support'- ing arms. were provided with a corresponding number of pairs of hoisting levers.

' The. manner 1n which our invention is applied' toa charging fork having a. number of supporting; arms, will be, clearly seen with v re erence to Fig.' 3,.. The. desired width of the carriage 22,' will determinethe length 100 lowered by the levers described in .connec-v tion with Figs. 1 and 2. A driving shaft 58 common to these levers is driven vby the .i

motor 36. Between the arms of the fork stationary supporting beamsare provided. As shown a board walk is secured to nach of the stationary beams to facilitate inspection ofthe mechanism. y f

If the charges of work to be handled are quite heavy, rollers 61 maybe supported directly beneath each stationary rack by means of bracketsy 62 supported fromV the carriage. The provision of these brackets prevents a heavy load at the outer end of the fork from tipping the fork downward. `In the operation of ourinvention it will be assumedthat the charges .of work 11 and 12 have been placed upon the stationary rack 14 by any suitable means such as 'a crane `(not shown). The fork driving motor 36 is thereupon energized in va direction toro- Vtate thev driving gear 30 in a counter-clockwise direction thereby elevating the charging fork 10. As the charging vfork 10 moves in an upward direction the charges 11 and 12 are picked up from the stationary rack Y14 in readiness for the transfer to their next position. The carriage motor 44 isnow energized in la direction to cause the driving gear 43 to rotate in al counter-clockwise direction thereby moving the carriage 22 and the charging fork 1,0V towards the `furnace '15. vAfter the completion ofboth movements the charge 11 and the'charge 12 will occupy -the4 positions shown in Fig. 2.

At this point in the operation of 4our invention, a vthird charge, of material may be placed onthe stationary rack 14 in the position ,formerly occupied by the charge 12.

The driving motor 36 is now energized in 'a direction to lower the charging fork to itslowermost position afterwhich the carriage .motor' 44 is energized in a direction to'cause the carriage and the charging fork to return to the vposition shown in Fig. 1 inreadiness for the next cycle of operation. The provision of the stationary rack and the progressive movement of the charges along the racktowards'the furnace decreases the loading time requiredV between successive charging operations. If the progressive movement had not -been provided for,vit would be necessary to return the charging mechanism to its original position as shown in Figgl before an additional charge could be placed on the charging fork. Moreover,

bodiment ofour invention, it will be understood of course that we do noty wish to be limited thereto since many modifications may be niadeand we therefore contemplate by the appended claims to cover any such modincations as fall within the true spirit and scope of our invention.

'Vhat we claim vas new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

`1.VV A charging mechanism for furnaces and the like comprising a stationary charge-supporting rack, va charge-supporting fork arrange'dt`- for movement above and below said rack, af plurality of pivoted levers for supporting'said fork at one end thereof, one end of each of said levers being connected to said fork, the other end'of said levers being provided with gear teeth, and asingle driving gear arranged to mesh with the said gear teeth on said levers so that said driving gear may be rotated to raise and lower said fork.

2. A charging mechanism for furnaces and the like including, a charge supporting rack, a plurality of charge-supporting arms arranged for movement above andbelow said rack, a plurality of pivote'd levers arranged in cooperative relation for supporting Vsaid arms in cantilever fashion, one end of each of said leversbeing conne/ted to said arms, the other end of each of said levers being mechanically interlockedl with another lever to insure a substantial vertical movement of saidsupporting arms.

3. A charging mechanism for furnaces and the like comprising a supporting carriage, a plurality of charge-supporting arms, a pair of downwardly extending projections at one end "of said arms and spaced from each other, pivoted levers connected to'l said carriage and tosaid extensions, and a geared driving connection between said levers whereby the said levers when rotated aboutsaid supports on said carriage by the said driving connections raise and lower said arms.

Y 4. A charging mechanism for furnaces and the like comprising a charge-supporting rack in juxtaposition to said furnace, a charging 'fork movable above vand below 'said rack, a supporting car'riagevfor said fork arranged for translational movement, a plurality of pairs of levers each pair of which is pivotally connected to said fork and to said carriage, and a driving connectionfor ointly operating said levers to raise or lower .said fork, a ,rack gear supported at. the base of said carriage, and a driving gear meshing with said rack gear so as to impart translational movement to said fork.

5. In combination with a furnace of a charging mechanism thereforcomprising a plurality of arms provided with work-supporting surfaces, a pair of downwardly extending projections on each of said arms, a pair of levers for each of said arms each of said pair of levers having a quadrant of a gear integrally secured at one end thereof, means for pivotally connecting said levers to said projections and to said carriage so that the gear teeth of said gears are directed toward each other, a driving gear mounted in meshing relation with each of a pair .of said Y levers, and a single driving shaft for said driving gears forming a mechanical interlock between said pairs of levers so as to insure the raising and lowering of said arms in a horizontal plane.

In witness whereof, we have hereunto set our hands.

ERNEST A. SMITH. WILLIAM H. DEERY. 

